Powerpoint on SCANSION
- this is an attempt to explain the metre and rhythms of Latin poetry in a way that non-specialists can understand. You will also need to download this sound file and save it in a folder with the powerpoint so that it will play when you reach the final slide.

Latin is a far more flexible language than English because it does not rely on the order of words to convey its meaning.

Poets can therefore create specific effects by placing their words where they will be most effective in terms of sound patterms and creating suspense or even visual images.

The poet Horace wrote :tantum series iuncturaque pollet
'The positioning and combination [of words] has so much power.'

I hope you enjoy the pictorial interpretation of some of my favourite pieces in the pages which follow.

flowers everywhere!

These lines written by Virgil describe flowers growing together in profusion, and you can see in the third line that the words referring to the colocasia and the acanthus - mixtaque and ridenti - are not placed next to them. The artist has linked the nouns to their adjectives by drawing the flower-stems across.

In the third line, when mentioning that they were both old friends, he again uses the same word twice : veterem vetus. (Both words mean 'old', but the first refers to the town mouse and the second to the country mouse.)

Either Horace has lost his touch as a poet or - is he trying to achieve a special effect?

In the first picture you can see how the words for the country mouse surround the words for the town mouse. In the second picture the words for the town mouse surround the words for the country mouse.
A friendly embrace?